PCB not to issue notice to coach Waqar Younis

The Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday said it had no intention of issuing any notice to national team coach Waqar Younis over his gaffe over the announcement of replacement players for the Twenty20 World Cup.

Wasim Bari, the chief operating officer of the board said that lot of fuss had been created over the issue.

"We all just want to focus on the World Cup which is a very important tournament for us and for us this whole issue is a closed chapter now," he said.

Bari said the board had no plans to issue any notice to Waqar as the matter was now closed.

Waqar had to call up the PCB chairman Ejaz Butt to apologise after he and captain, Shahid Afridi went ahead and announced that Muhammad Sami and Muhammad Irfan would replace the injured Umar Gul and Yasir Arafat in the Pakistan squad.

While Sami was among the five reserves for the tournament rookie pace bowler, Irfan didn't feature in even the 30-member provisional squad for the World Cup.

Butt then rejected the inclusion of Irfan and through the board announced that Sami and left arm spinner, Abdul Rehman would be the replacement players leaving the team management and national selectors red faced.

Butt apparently was upset that the captain and particularly Waqar had violated the policy of the board in announcing the replacements without any approval from the board.

Bari said the national team now needed a lot of support from the media and the people.

"I think we should forget about these little things and move ahead and support the team because if it does well in the World Cup it will bring glory for Pakistan first," the former Test captain said.

However, many former Test players have slammed Butt and the board for their insensitive handling of the whole issue with former captain, Aamir Sohail calling for an end to the one-man show in the board.

"I think it is about time that powers and responsibilities are properly designated in the board why should the Chairman hold all the powers and have a say in selection matters," he said.

He said in no country was the board chairman empowered to override the national selectors or team management in cricketing matters.

"Even if Waqar made a mistake in making a premature announcement but the board should have shown more consideration for his seniority and spoken to him privately but given the approval for the two players the team management and selectors agreed upon," Sohail said.